


Escape to the Western Air Temple

by ThatOneFangirlTho



Series: Lotus Blossoms (Iroh Joins the Gaang) [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: 100 Year War (Avatar TV), Bending (Avatar), Eel Hound (Avatar), Episode: s03e11 The Day of Black Sun Part 2: The Eclipse, Episode: s03e12 The Western Air Temple, Everyone Travels to the Western Air Temple, How Do I Tag, Iroh’s Prison Break, Order of the White Lotus, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slight Canon Divergence, To Be Continued, Western Air Temple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:40:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28681956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatOneFangirlTho/pseuds/ThatOneFangirlTho
Summary: After the eclipse, three journeys to the Western Air Temple begin. Featuring: Iroh’s Prison Break, The Gaang’s Flight, and Zuko’s Airship Escape.Slight canon divergence- Iroh decides that he should make sure Aang has a firebending teacher.(To be continued in another story.)
Relationships: Iroh & The Gaang (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Lotus Blossoms (Iroh Joins the Gaang) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2102283
Comments: 1
Kudos: 40





	1. Iroh’s Prison Break

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to let you all know that this is basically a set up for a larger work! I hope I have your interest, and that you enjoy!

Even from his prison cell, Iroh could tell an eclipse was on its way. Though his connection from the sun had been weakened, it was still there, a constant presence that was a part of his inner flame. As a firebending master, he knew when the day had come. 

He was glad that the guard, Ming, heeded his warning. He was also glad that she did not warn her fellow guards of his impending threat. It wouldn’t have made a difference in the end, he knew, but the less energy he had to waste fighting the guards, the more he would have for the remainder of his escape. 

The firebender was meditating just before the eclipse. He was gathering all the strength he would need, physical and mental. A few minutes later, he felt when the sun was completely blocked by the moon. He opened his eyes and prepared himself, then striking directly at the metal bars, which bent and tore away from the frame, clattering on the ground in front of him. 

Of course, one of the guards heard, specifically the one who had been particularly cruel to Iroh in the past couple of months. He had never mentioned his name, so Iroh simply referred to him as “the Guard” in his mind. The Guard burst into the room, his eyes narrowed in anger, then surprise when he saw the broken metal. 

“Hey! I don’t know how you did that, but you’ll regret it, you pathetic old man!” He shouted, preparing to bend. When he thrust his hands out and a small puff of smoke was all that appeared, his face fell. It turned to horror when he looked in Iroh’s eyes, and suddenly he realized that the hopeless, crazy old man he had been guarding had just an act.

This was the Dragon of the West. The Guard never stood a chance, even with his bending. 

None of the other guards had been any better prepared and were taken down even easier. It was as if they had no idea the eclipse was coming at all. 

Iroh was well away from the prison before the eclipse ended. By the time he felt his inner flame brighten again, he had almost reached the safe-house of the White Lotus. 

He heard a distant sound and looked up to see several huge war balloons in the sky. He hadn’t seen anything like it before. He had a feeling that the Avatar’s friends (for he wasn’t sure if the Avatar himself had survived, despite Zuko’s suspicions) would try to use the eclipse to end the war, but he hadn’t realized that the Fire Lord knew they were coming. 

A few of the smaller war balloons fell from the sky, and Iroh spotted the sky bison and something else in the air taking them down- the Avatar, he realized. He was alive! A surge of relief washed over him. He was grateful that the waterbender was able to heal him after all. 

The large war balloons advanced, dropping bombs. He cringed internally, but he knew he could be no help. He was too far away, and they might see him as an enemy anyway. There was a small chance that they had won, but if Ozai had known about the eclipse, then he would’ve hidden in the secret bunker under the volcano. When Iroh saw the sky bison rise up from Caldera and fly away, towards the west, he knew that they must have lost the battle. They were probably going to the Western Air Temple now, he guessed. 

Iroh turned back around and closed the distance between him and the White Lotus safe-house. It was locked, but he knew where the key was hidden. Once he was inside, he noted that it was empty, as requested. He hadn’t known if he would be followed, and he hadn’t wanted anyone else to get involved in his dangerous escape, at least not before he was out of sight of the Fire Nation’s capitol. 

The building was made to look like a normal stop for messenger Hawks, but it was run by the White Lotus. They intercepted all the messages that came through and were able to send their own to each other without suspicion. There were a few messenger Hawks- all belonging to the White Lotus- sitting in the rafters. Next to the calligraphy supplies was a saddle. There was a small note on it addressed to Iroh. He gave a small grin as he read it, reading that the members of the White Lotus would start gathering at the outskirts of Ba Sing Se as soon as he said they should. 

A thought struck him. 

He was really the only person who could best lead the attack on the Fire Nation-controlled city of Ba Sing Se, having studied and attacked it himself, as well as having lived there months prior. 

But he was also the only one of the group that knew where the Avatar was and where he was going. Iroh knew Aang had mastered three elements, but as far as he knew, the Avatar had no firebending teacher. He had just missed a chance to win the war, and now time was running out. If he couldn’t win now, what would happen if he faced Ozai during Sozin’s Comet, with no firebending experience at all? 

He would be killed. The world’s last hope, the last airbender, just gone. 

In another life, maybe Iroh wouldn’t have made this choice. Maybe he would trust the universe to fix itself, but right now, he just wanted to make sure that that kid he had met in Ba Sing Se, that didn’t desire revenge or power or glory, only balance, could hold his own. 

Iroh picked up a brush, writing several letters and sending them off. The White Lotus forces could start gathering and doing reconnaissance without him. All he had to do was to plan and to be there to lead them. He could train the Avatar before then, and maybe even convince him and his friends to stay with the White Lotus for protection. 

When the last messenger hawk had flown out of the building, Iroh gathered the supplies and put them in the saddlebag. He picked that up and walked through to the stable that was attached to the building. A little smile crossed his face when he saw Izumi, his eel hound. 

Technically, she belonged to the White Lotus, but Iroh had been the one to tame and train her. (It had been one of the tasks testing his loyalty to the White Lotus, and one of the more challenging ones too. He would commit treason against the Fire Nation every day of the week, but taming an eel hound was something few people dared to try.)

Her green eyes lit up in recognition as she turned her head and spotted the firebender. She made a low, purr-like, sound as he put a hand on her head. Not much longer after that, the saddle was on her back and they were on their way to the Western Air Temple. 

Although Izumi was more than capable of catching up to the sky bison in the air, despite the bison’s head start, Iroh chose to hang behind the Avatar and his friends. He did know where they were going after all, so it’s not like he needed to follow them closely. Plus, it would be terrible if they thought he was pursuing them to capture them. 

He steered clear of the boiling rock, but even the little drops of water that splashed the firebender before quickly drying were noticeably warmer as they got close to the prison. The island of the Sun Warriors also wasn’t too far away. Maybe Iroh would go pay his masters a visit soon. If he ended up teaching Aang, he would surely take him as well.

If Iroh was being honest with himself, he had hoped that his nephew would be the one teaching the Avatar. That would have meant Zuko would have finally seen the light, and that he would have been able to find forgiveness from Aang and his companions. Immense sadness welled up in the firebender as he remembered how conflicted his nephew had been in the previous months. He was so lost...

But Iroh didn’t know if he could chance it again. 

Zuko had an opportunity to make amends in Ba Sing Se, to help the Avatar and defeat Azula. Despite his previous changes, he fought alongside his sister instead. The Earth Kingdom fell, and the Avatar had nearly died because of it. (Iroh had essentially lost his second son that night, but in the grand scheme of things, that only really mattered to him. The world didn’t seem too impacted by that part.) He wasn’t completely sure that Zuko would leave the Fire Nation at all, even after everything that had happened. (Of course, Iroh hoped with all his heart that Zuko would find his own path, but he had been so hopeful in Ba Sing Se, and look how that turned out...)

There was a chance that Zuko had stayed in the capitol- if he was going to leave, the eclipse would have been the perfect opportunity after all. If he had stayed... well, Iroh didn’t really want to think about that. (Spirits forbid they have to face one another on the battlefield... not that Iroh would ever hurt Zuko, even if it cost his own life, but it would be terrible nonetheless.) 

There was also a chance that the prince had left the Fire Nation, his past, and his old ways behind. In that scenario, he would try to turn a new leaf, to do better, to make up for what he had done, and move forward, carving his own path as he saw fit. This is what Iroh so hoped he had chosen. 

But he hadn’t seen Zuko in a while, not since he spoke to him for the first time in months, telling him about his great grandfathers, Avatar Roku, and Fire Lord Sozin. He hadn’t seen any evidence that Zuko had left Caldera at all. Of course, he hadn’t seen that he had stayed either, but that could be because he was hiding in the secret bunker during the eclipse. 

Iroh had a lot of faith in his nephew. He loved him like a son and seeing him hurt made Iroh so upset. He trusted Zuko to do the right thing this time around.

... but he had also done that before. (Maybe the entire fate of the world shouldn’t hang in the balance because of his faith in his nephew.)

This time, Iroh felt it was better to be safe than sorry. 

The shift from traveling on the water to traveling on land shook Iroh out of his thoughts. He would have to keep his turmoil and grief in the back of his mind, or he wouldn’t be able to do any good at all. 

It was then he noticed large footprints surrounded by smaller ones on the ground. He pulled gently back on Izumi’s reigns, telling her to slow down so he could get a better look. The eel hound complied, seemingly unfazed by the long journey she had just traveled. 

The footprints were numerous. The fire bender could tell that there were at least 6 people and the sky bison there, as well as something with wheels that left tracks on the ground. The bison must have gotten tired, making walking a better option for the group. The airbender surely knew his way to the Temple and was likely taking the most direct path. Iroh couldn’t remember the exact geography of the island, and without a map, he was left to guess. His best bet would be to follow the tracks for a time and then split from them, so he could hide Izumi and prepare to greet them peacefully. 

He started back at a slow pace, knowing Izumi was much faster on foot than the sky bison would be. They hadn’t gotten far when they could see a dust cloud on the horizon, and Iroh decided to head for the cover of some distant trees. If need be, he could retrace his steps to the path, but he remembered that the opening to the Western Air Temple was basically a large gouge in the earth, stretching for miles. He would probably be able to find it. 

Traveling through the trees was slow going, primarily due to Izumi’s large size. Not all the trees were tall, a few times Iroh had to duck far down to keep from being knocked off the saddle. At one point he did fall, and while he managed to stick the landing, he realized that this may have been a poor choice. Instead of riding on the saddle, he instead guided Izumi through the trees. Soon enough, they reached the massive gorge. 

The firebender led his eel hound back to the side, where he guessed the path had let out. He knew they were close when he saw a few markers that he and Zuko had stumbled across during their visit here. (Iroh pushed the memory away, simultaneously wondering if there was something more he could have done.) 

Then, he saw a staircase descending to the Air Temple. Some echos he heard sounded vaguely like voices coming from below, and Iroh knew that he had arrived in the right spot. He gently pulled down on the reigns, indicating for the eel hound to sit. She complied and turned her head towards the firebender, who petted it. 

“If all goes well, I will see you in a bit,” he told her, knowing he was mainly talking to himself. “Though, if it doesn’t go well, I suppose the same thing is true.” 

He grinned a little at his own joke. 

“Stay here, alright?” This time he was talking to her. Izumi’s green eyes snapped up in attention, and then she laid her head down on the ground. It didn’t look like she would be going anywhere. 

The steps were just as dangerous as he remembered them. One hundred years of erosion and neglect had rendered them uneven and parts of the steps were missing in some areas. When he had been here with Zuko the first time, the boy had nearly fallen off the edge, still not used to the bandage around his head. Iroh had guided him down the stairs safely, with the banished prince grumbling something about not needing his help to go down some dumb old steps. (He felt nostalgic and so sad at that moment. He pushed that memory back too.)

Once he reached the end of the stairs, he spotted where the Avatar and his friends were talking on another landing. He did remember the paths that connected the most major landings, so he summoned a flame in his hand and started making his way over there. He had gotten fairly close when he heard Toph shout and the others suddenly went very quiet. Right, she probably knew he was coming. 

He put out his flame and let the sunlight illuminate the rest of the path. He swept his dirty hair back out of his face (maybe he should have cleaned up a little more before this) and put his arms in his sleeves to appear non-aggressive. 

He saw Aang, Toph, Katara, and Sokka all standing, ready to fight. The firebender took a breath and let it out before stepping into the open. 

“Please do not attack me, I mean you no harm.”


	2. The Gaang's Flight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gaang travels to the Western Air Temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I wrote this a few weeks ago and forgot to post it until now, my bad!)  
> Some dialouge is taken from the show.   
> I hope you enjoy this short chapter!

The air in the sky was warmer than the first time fliers, Haru and The Duke, had anticipated. Maybe it was because they were in the Fire Nation just before summer. For some reason, they had thought it would have been cold. 

Teo was often up in the air, even if he was gliding more so than flying. He had never been in the air with the help of anyone else before, much less a giant sky bison. He made sure to keep a hand on the edge of the saddle to steady himself, just in case. 

Toph was also glued to the wall of the saddle, one arm wrapped around it and the other arm linked with Sokka’s. He knew she hated flying and the new saddle didn’t have the holes she could put her arms through. (The Duke occasionally glanced at the earth bender, remembering how she called traveling in the submarines even worse than flying. He did feel a bit bad for her, but he wasn’t going to offer her his helmet again.) 

Katara was sitting next to her brother, their silent grief of their father having been captured by the Fire Nation in the air between them. 

As for Aang, sitting at the front, his tears had finally dried. He had told their friends who were captured that he would find a way to make it up to them, but he wasn’t entirely sure how he would do that. 

It was quiet. Calm. They had been in a raging battle less than an hour ago. Now, the silence was almost deafening. It stayed like that for a while, until Aang spoke, “We’re over the island now. Appa’s tired, so we’ll have to walk the rest of the way.” 

He started their descent, and within a minute they had landed. Aang got off first, followed shortly by Toph, who let out a small sigh of relief for being back on the ground. Katara jumped onto the ground and Sokka almost followed, before realizing the others probably didn’t know how to get down. 

“Could we get some help up here?” He asked, looking to the earth benders who were already off the bison. 

Aang put a hand on the back of his neck, “oh, right.” 

He and Toph earth bent a section of the ground up to be level with the saddle. Haru and Sokka both grabbed different ends of Teo’s wheelchair and lifted him onto the platform. The Duke cautiously stepped over the saddle wall and onto the platform, careful not to fall. 

The platform was lowered a moment later, and everyone started to walk. It was quiet again, and the sun was beating down harder than before, as if it was making up for time lost during the eclipse. The dust was billowing behind them as they walked. It felt like it was taking an eternity on foot. Their defeat was like a weight on their shoulders, preventing anyone from standing tall. 

“This is humiliating,” Katara finally said. 

“What, getting thoroughly sparked by the Fire Nation or having to walk all the way to the Western Air Temple?” Sokka asked her.

“Both,” she answered. 

Aang petted his bison on the head, with Momo lying on top of his own, “sorry guys, Appa gets tired carrying all these people.” The extra weight from his armor probably didn’t help either, but it had saved him from being burned a little while ago. 

“I wonder how the rest of the troops are...” Teo said as he pushed himself onward. 

Haru looked over at him, “they’re probably on their way to prison by now. It seems like my dad just got out, and now he’s going back in.” 

Although Sokka and Katara’s father had never been imprisoned by the Fire Nation, they knew how Haru felt. Their family had been kept apart by the war for so long, and now they really wouldn’t be able to see each other until the war was over. 

The Duke looked down at the ground, “I miss Pipsqueak...” 

“I miss not having blisters on my feet,” Sokka added. 

Toph paused, making everyone else hesitate. She was at the front of the group and had stopped just short of a huge rift in the ground. “We’re here, I can feel it!”

“I think your feet need their eyes checked,” Katara said, looking across the gap in the earth. 

Aang smiled, “no, she’s right! We are here!” 

This provoked Sokka to look around, feeling confused and shrugging. 

“Wow,” Toph said, “it’s amazing!”

“Alright, everyone better get back on Appa so we can get down there. There are stairs, but they might not be doing so well after 100 years,” Aang explained. 

It took a few minutes and another earth ramp for everyone to climb into the bison’s saddle. When they descended into the gorge, murmurs of awe went through the group. (Toph mumbled something about the view being better from up top.)

Aang stood up, gesturing to the grand view of upside-down buildings, “welcome to the Western Air Temple.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I forgot to upload this one earlier, I'm going to finish this fic off with a double-update! See you in the next chapter!


	3. Zuko's Airship Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko flies after the Gaang to the Western Air Temple. He tries to come up with an apology.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last part, here we go! I hope you enjoy it!

Another blast of fire shot from Zuko’s hand into the burner, lifting up the war balloon even more. He needed to be high up in the air if he was going to follow after the Avatar and his friends and not be spotted. He had a hunch that they were going to the Western Air Temple, but he had already tracked them all over the world. He could find them, even if that wasn’t where they were going. 

He had to join them, to teach the Avatar firebending, to make up for everything he had done. He had realized the war had destroyed the peace in the world and created an era of fear instead, and he wanted to fix what his great-grandfather had started so long ago. 

As the clouds surrounded him, he could only wonder and hope that they could forgive him. He was completely alone now, and if they turned him away, he didn’t know what he would do. 

He had lost his opportunity to free his uncle from prison and apologize for everything he had done. Uncle Iroh had been the one person who stuck by him, the one person who truly cared about him, who had sacrificed so much just to be by his side... 

Uncle Iroh, who he had betrayed in the catacombs of Ba Sing Se, and allowed to be thrown in prison and treated like dirt for months... 

Zuko closed his eyes tightly. He had missed his one chance to possibly make it up to him by breaking him out of prison, because by the time he had gotten there, Iroh was gone. The guard that was still in the room, tied with rope and terrified, said that Uncle was like a one-man army. 

Sometimes everyone forgot that Iroh was the Dragon of the West. The entire Fire Nation, Zuko and the Fire Lord included, had underestimated him. 

(Sometimes Zuko felt that Iroh didn’t really need him, but he _had_ given the man every reason to hate him.) 

Frustration at himself had his anger boiling to the surface, and he shot a large blast of fire into the burner again. If it hadn’t been for Iroh, he wouldn’t even be here at all, and now he may never have the chance to apologize and make it up to him. 

Shaking his head, the prince decided to lower his balloon some. He needed to know how close he was to the sky bison, and to the Air Temple. He descended just past the clouds, and was a bit surprised to see that he was fairly close to the island. He was even more surprised to see the bison was on the ground with some other figures in front of him and around him. 

Zuko guessed he would probably just beat them to the Air Temple. He had to travel slowly enough to not leave a path in the clouds, and he would have to find a spot to land and hide his balloon too. He still had a little distance to go. 

As soon as he saw the large ravine, he knew it was time to find a spot to land. There was the central path that the Avatar and his friends were traveling down, with trees off to both sides. He steered to one side, spotting a clearing away from the path. The figures on the path were still a good distance away, so he would probably be able to land without a problem. 

Landing turned out to be a bit frustrating, as he had to cut the propeller and drop straight down, which altered between opening the hatch and adding more flames so he would go downward, but not so fast that he would damage the balloon or be injured. 

Finally, he got it, and he tied the balloon down so it couldn’t be carried away. He saw a dash of red to his left, and when he looked, he saw the remains of an old Fire Nation camp. It was surrounded by trees and close to his balloon, and the old tent created a bit of shelter, so it looked like it was as good a place as any to set his things down. He only kept two things with him: the knife Iroh had given him (which would only ever leave his person if someone pried it from his cold, dead hands) and a length of rope. He didn’t remember where the stairs were, and he figured he should head down and survey the Air Temple before anyone else arrived. 

He walked not too far away from his camp, where he guessed one of the landings might be. He tied the rope to a tree, making sure it was secure, and slid down it. He swung onto the platform of the huge upside-down building and looked into the distance.

A memory surfaced in his mind, from over three years ago, the very first time he had been here. His face was still covered in bandages. (He remembered denying that it hurt despite the immense pain he sometimes felt from the wound.) He had been so focused on finding the Avatar. Iroh had tried to help him, to show him that there was more to life than restoring his honor...

Zuko face-palmed and groaned. If only he had listened...

He heard the bison before he saw him, so the prince ran behind a column and looked toward the noise. The Avatar and his friends had just arrived. With a quick glance behind him confirming that there actually was a staircase, Zuko turned and went back up to the top of the gorge. 

..............

Not long after that, Zuko found himself pacing around, trying to figure out what to say to the Avatar and his friends. No matter what he said, he was sure they would turn him down. He even tried impressions of his uncle (who he still couldn't understand, even when he was speaking for him) and Azula (who probably wasn't the greatest choice if he actually wanted them to trust him), but he just didn't know what to say. 

Even the badger frog had rejected his pathetic attempt of an apology. (Granted, he didn't think talking to a badger frog would be even remotely the same, mostly because it wasn't a bending master and it hadn't been chased around the world by Zuko.)

"Why am I so bad at being good?!" he finally yelled. 

He took a moment to think. Zuko had to collect his thoughts and deliver a proper, sincere apology to the group, or he would never earn their trust. He had to get it perfect, or he would be rejected and the Avatar might never learn firebending. They were probably still on edge from that battle too, so they would be extra cautious. 

He had to get it right. There was no other choice. 

The Avatar had once told him that maybe, they could have been friends. He had just saved Zuko, and the firebender had only attacked him again, right after he said that. Right now, he could only hope that chance still existed somewhere. '

Regardless, he knew he couldn't rush into this. He had to sit down and think about it. That's what Uncle would have told him to do. (He glanced at the portrait sticking out of his bag.) 

Right... He would give it a night. The Avatar and his friends would hopefully feel a bit less on edge, and Zuko would have a proper apology by then. It's not like they would leave, and Azula would never attack so soon. 

If it meant his apology could be good, it could wait a night. 

He let out a small sigh and glanced to the side, seeing the badger frog looking at him. Alright, if it wanted to sit here, at the very least it could help him with this. 

.......

(Somewhere along the coast of the Fire Nation, an assassin was delayed. The attack on Caldera and the solar eclipse had shaken the people at the ports, so there would be no ships coming or going for the rest of the day. He would have to wait until tomorrow to chase after his quarry.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's it for this part of the story! I wanted to divide it up into a few smaller parts just because it felt right. I've drafted over half of the next fic, I just want to get a full draft done before I start posing it. The next month is going to be really rough for me though, so in a worst-case scenario, I'll probably post the next part of this story (Iroh talking to the Gaang) late March. Who knows, maybe I'll find time to write my stress away!
> 
> I hope you have enjoyed this fic, and if you did, please stick around for the next one! I promise it will be much more interesting! (This is basically a tiny preview!)   
> Tell me what you think (and if there are any spelling mistakes!)! Comments and Kudos make my day!

**Author's Note:**

> I loved writing that so much. (Just so you know, the follow up to this fic will pretty much pick up right where Iroh’s chapter ends. I wanted to organize the story like this because I felt like it flowed better.) 
> 
> (Also, my girlfriend said that the eel hound’s name should be Izumi, like Zuko’s daughter. Her reasoning? It sounds like “I-ZOOM-e.” I laughed so hard and couldn’t help myself after that. Plus maybe Zuko will warm up to the eel hound too!)
> 
> Feel free to tell me what you think! All thoughts and criticism are appreciated! Comments and kudos make my day!


End file.
